Ah, I see. Though I am still la little confused by Michael D’s question.

In the prose category you can enter a written piece up to 2000 words long that is somehow connected to or inspired by the theme. The only limitation is that the material must be suitable for the open forum (so not anything that would otherwise be in the Adult content section).

The poetry category follows the same idea except that it is for Poetry and is limited to 24 lines instead of 2000 words.

__________________Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

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Ideas gestate for weeks or months in my mind, when I eventually sit down to write them I tend to do it in one sitting. Almost all my work is first draft as the earlier drafts were worked out in my head.

I have a good idea, I think, so it shouldn't be long now.

From the looks of it, it could just be a case of you versus me - may the best man win

I have never written a first person story before - I detest such a form generally - but felt this story needed it.

Hope you enjoy it, those who read it.

Now on that very subject, looking back at the voting thread of the last competition, I get the feeling that not very many people do read these. Last time we had six entries and six votes, implying that only those who participate actually read the stories and vote.

I did ask, if I recall, if I could spam the other threads with invitations but never received any response from a moderator, thus I didn't.

Well I made a forum wide announcement a couple of days ago, so hopefully a few more people have seen the contest and are gearing up to post. You are right however, entries and participation has gone down over the last two years or so.

As I always read and vote then last time not even all who entered voted. Sadly.

By all means direct people to the contest, but spamming is not allowed. Rather if you see a situation where it is appropriate then do tell members. I often tell new members in introduction if their introduction indicates that they are looking for inspiration rather than just help with their current work.

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I was pleasantly surprised by Gloria's piece. At 479 words and with only one line of dialogue, I presumed it was lacklustre to say the least.

Then I read it and felt quite touched, this work did manage - with an efficiency of words - to evoke emotion, which is the whole point of storytelling after all.

Of course, I must remember that 'The Hiding Place' was only 600-odd words - although my reason for that was it was told from a young child's point-of-view - so that does go to show that the number of words is irrelevant. It is what you capture in those words that matters.

It is a shame that there were so few entries, especially considering the sheer number of people that are part of the site, and the number of those that are equipped to make a contribution.
I will assume that there is more at play here than a mere lack of inspiration? Ah, well.

M

__________________"I believed what I was told. I thought it was a good life, I thought I was happy. Then I found something that changed it all..."

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